


Conversation

by Liliet



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Angst, Chat Noir POV, F/M, Gen, Heartwarming, Hurt/Comfort, I D K it's kinda weird probably, Reveal, also Marinette POV in second chapter, death mention, hope y'all like it, i think, i was in a completely different headspace finishing it than starting it, it's sad and horrible and kinda shippy, man that was a tone shift from the first to last chapter lol, welcome to my brainspace
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-23
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-28 15:22:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6334207
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liliet/pseuds/Liliet
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ladybug and Chat Noir have an opportunity to chat without being rushed by their transformation running out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Tonight, Ladybug and Chat Noir could be seen by curious public perching on an edge of a roof above the busy Paris streets.

They won again - and it was easy this time. No need to use Lucky Charm, no need for the Cataclysm. For once, there was no time limit, and no hurry - something they never realized until now was a luxury for them.

Chat was squatting, easily balancing above the ten-story drop. This was a game for him, as it always was - well, not always, and not entirely a game. But it was freedom, and it was fun - something that his life otherwise kept lacking, no matter how hard he tried to change that.

Maybe he just poured too much effort into this identity, so he had nothing left for the other. He didn't like that one anyway - Adrien Agreste, teen supermodel, son of a brilliant father, target of hundreds of Chloes and Lilas and Auroras. Someone who's been given all his achievements on a silver platter, never earned them - never actually worked for them a day in his life.

Chat Noir was... different. This, he was also given - he did not know why - but it was work as much as it was game, and he was nobody until he told others who he was. It was freedom, and it was fun, and it was -

And it was with Ladybug.

She was sitting next to him, bouncing legs in the air and bouncing her yo-yo back and forth, for once using it like the toy it was, not the weapon it was made to be.

He used to think the yo-yo was magic, a weapon just looking like a toy, but then it was broken and Ladybug summoned another with her magic, a regular one just like all her Lucky Charms were. She used it with just as much precision - was it a skill granted by the transformation, like jumping from building to building and surviving hits that could smash a car? Or was it something she could do in her civilian identity, too?

There were many things he wondered about her civilian identity, but she insisted on keeping it secret. He could understand why - Plagg insisted on that too - but...

"Milady?"

"Hm?"--she didn't turn her head, just slightly tilted it, indicating she was listening. She always trusted him to notice and understand small things like this, and he - he did, he always did, and he was quietly proud of the wordless understanding they managed to keep up, something he didn't really get with anyone else.

He really, really didn't want to lose her.

"Milady... what do you think will happen if one day this ends?"

"Ends?"--she echoed, still throwing the yoyo into the void in front of her and then jerking it back, catching safely into her hand.

"If one day Hawkmoth just... gets bored of this and gives up, or moves away, or - or if we win,"--he stumbled, awkwardly tripping over his own tongue. They gave that promise way back when to try and get his Miraculous, but they never even tried, did they? They just kept reacting and perhaps hoping that one day solution just comes to them... this was both a problem and at the same time so much not,--"if we are just.. done with this. And we go back go our regular lives, and we just - we don't even know each other. We can go past each other on the street - we can meet every day - and we won't even know that that's us. That we did this together, that - that we both remember, and - we'll just forget, maybe. Like this was just a dream..."--he slumped his shoulders.

"A dream," she echoed. "A nightmare... That would be nice."

"A nightmare?" he repeated, feeling more dense than usual.

Her hair, sticking out of the pigtails, ruffled after a day of jumping on the roofs and fighting, was obscuring her face as she leaned forward. He was almost sure, though, that he heard hints of tears in her voice - did he ever hear that before?

"A nightmare... I suppose it's not like that for you, is it? For everyone else - it's just like a game, a comic, a movie - no matter what happens, it'll always be fixed."

(He was almost entirely sure he really could hear her voice wavering now)

"No matter what happens, I'll always - do you know that - do you remember Timebreaker?"

Her shoulders were bunched together, her legs braced against the wall, and only the yo-yo kept flying back and forth, punctuating the conversation like tick-tocks of a quiet clock.

"Well, I - that was when there was two of you, wasn't it?"--he smiled, trying to lighten up the suddenly tense conversation as best he could.--"I couldn't very well forget!"

"Yes, there was two of me..."--she finally looked up at him, and yes, her eyes were red and puffy--"Did you ever wonder why there was two of me, but only one of you?"

"Uh," he managed.

"You died." She blinked at him, wiped a tear off her cheek with her palm. The yoyo stilled, caught safely in her other hand.

"You died, and - and I went back with her, and there you were, alive again, but even if I hadn't - I'd beat her, and I'd fix everything, and you'd be alive again, just like everyone else was... as long as I was alive. You shielded me - you shielded me from her touch, and you were gone and I was still there to fix everything - but if I weren't, if I - if I lost, it'd be all over. I can't afford to lose, Chat"--she sniffled and curled her legs under herself, suddenly more vulnerable than he'd ever seen her be.

"This is all on me, and there's no-one else. If I lose - then it's no longer a game, and no longer fun"--she shot him a glance, and he cowered, suddenly feeling like she was seeing through the entirety of him, and not liking what she saw.

"If I die, Chat, I'll stay dead, and - and so will everyone else. I just -"

She buried her face in her hands, dropped yo-yo rolling on the flat roof, and he was already moving towards her, wrapping her in his arms, pulling her down from the ledge and curling around her, before he realized what he was doing. This wasn't exactly a new degree of physical contact to them, not with how much catching each other from falls they've done - and he was, technically, preventing her from falling now, among other things - but... never before has she felt this... this vulnerable, this open, this _completely relying on him_. She might be caught flat-footed for a couple of seconds, but then she'll gain her balance again and rush forward, him running alongside or behind... but now she was curled up, mutely sobbing into his shoulder, and all he could do was grip her even tighter, as if that could prevent her from being alone against her duty, her task that he helped with but never truly shared.

"I'll always be here for you, Milady," he whispered hopelessly into her ear. "I'll be there to take the hit for you, always - no matter what it costs me. I will die for you, and I will do it as many times as it takes - as many as needed so you will be safe, always safe, never lose..."

The words rung hollow to him - he remembered all too well all the times she's had to rescue him and to fight him, caught easily by Heartbreaker, Puppeteer, Princess Fragrance... yes, at least two out of those were him taking the hit for her, instead of her, but he could only take one and then she was on her own again -

but she buried her forehead in his shoulder and clung to him awkwardly, and he knew the reassurance worked, even if it really shouldn't have - did she believe in him more than he believed in himself? Or was she simply taking what she could get, settling for as much as he could offer, even if it wasn't much?

"Thank you," she finally whispered, words muffled by the soft leather of his costume, and they both relaxed, resting themselves against the raised edge of the roof, letting the momentary horror and sorrow of their duty wash over them and dissipate in cool clear air.

He _would_ die for her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Marinette ruminates on the conversation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WELL THAT DID NOT END THERE IN MY HEADSPACE  
> WHOOPS  
> I DON'T EVEN KNOW IF THERE'LL BE MORE

Marinette stood at the school wall, staring up aimlessly.

"I'll die for you, as many times as it takes," still rang in her ears since yesterday.

They parted awkwardly soon enough, both hurrying to get to their civilian identities and people who didn't know where they were and what they were doing.

What would have Chat's parents and friends said, had they heard him say that?

"I'll die for you, as many times as it takes."

It's not like she didn't know - since Timebreaker at least, and it's not like she was so surprised then... but it could have been an impulse back then, Chat had always had a tendency to leap before thinking, and of course she would have protect him with everything she had, too -

okay, no, she wouldn't.

Their relationship was never quite equal. She made fun of him and his jokes and brushed off his flirty advances which she assumed was just how he talked to all girls - and her brief experiences with him as Marinette didn't exactly do much to dispel that impression. They both knew she was in charge, they both knew she was more important. Chat followed her commands and relied on her to give them, and to in the end, fix everything.

She never quite... took him seriously. Yes, he was the other city superhero, and he seemed to take to it like a fish to water, like a little boy whose cartoon-induced dream has finally come true. She loved having him as a partner, if only to lift her own spirits and make her feel like this was awesome and not terrible at all, too. He was like a kitten, so fun to keep around and watch him play...

She wouldn't have sacrificed her life to save him the way he had, because she knew that as long as she was alive, she could restore everything, him included. She was important, she was responsible, and everyone else was just... along for the ride. God knows Alya wasn't quite taking this seriously; good. Marinette didn't want her to.

When she told Chat about his death in a fit of bitterness, she expected, perhaps, fear. She expected him to be as disturbed as she was by the idea that he just - up and died. That this wasn't a game, that losing meant death and it wasn't just a thing that happened to others.

"I'll die for you, as many times as it takes."

She expected him to be lighthearted and fun, not quite taking the threats seriously. She WANTED him to be lighthearted and fun, not quite taking the threats seriously. It was so much... simpler, to be the sole bearer of the fear and the bitterness and the quiet anger. To be alone, and know she was alone, and just guard everyone else, giving away her own life bit by bit, bite by bite.

But she wasn't.

He was there with her, and for all his jokes she knew how to tell when he was serious.

He would die for her, he would kill for her, he would do anything for her. Her Chat. Her cat. She already thought of him as that, and called him that jokingly, but - she did assume it was just a game for him, that he'd call quits the moment the going got too tough for him. That he was his own responsibility to manage, and she just needed to - to do her superhero thing, and rescue him when he got too reckless because that was just how he was, like boys tend to be.

But now it turned out he was her responsibility, in more ways than one, more so than the rest of the city already was.

And this was, apparently, his dream. To live for her, to die for her, to fight endlessly, taking time out of his other life as easily as if it didn't matter at all.

If what was a nightmare for her was a dream for him, what was his civilian life like?

Then there was a shove to her shoulder, and a bag falling to the ground, and scattered books, and a familiar voice muttering, "Sorry..."

Marinette bent down for the bag and glanced up from beneath her bangs, the usual freezing at the sight of Adrien Agreste not even coming as hard as it did usually, so distracted she was. Adrien was smiling bashfully in that adorable way he did, and helping her pick up the books, and usually this would be enough to send her stomach flying - but this time the smile reminded her of someone else instead.

"I'll die for you, as many times as it takes."

"I'm sorry, really, I guess I didn't look where I was going..." the somewhat similar voice pulled her back to the present. She smiled at him automatically, the learned smile that Ladybug gave to the press and the akuma victims when thinking about different things entirely, and he seemed to falter for a moment.

Not looking where he was going and bumping into people was actually unusual for him, Marinette noted. He seemed somewhat spacey even as he concentrated on the simple task of picking up her things, his hands distractedly grasping around the floor for several seconds before he actually noticed they were done. He gave her an awkward smile, got up and almost ran forward.

The strangely familiar smile didn't do anything to erase the face and voice of her partner from her all too vivid memory.

"I'll die for you, as many times as it takes."

And she would bring him back every time.

Marinette picked up her bag and followed Adrien to class.

This was, at its core, simple after all. She was already taking care of all her classmates, and parents, and Manon. There was just a certain black cat added to the list.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Adrien ruminates on the conversation, too

Adrien hurried to class, Marinette's strange smile still seeming to hang in the air in front of him. She seemed different today - or was it simply that he most definitely was?

It's not like he didn't understand the situation he was in before. It felt natural, for him to be involved in something dangerous and high profile, just like being recognized on the streets and not getting birthday parties. He knew what he was doing was important, he knew what they both were doing was important, and he knew that dying was a thing that could happen to him there...

But, as Ladybug was right to call him out on, he never really did give it much thought.

He never quite thought of what it was like for her, nor what the impact was for other people. He lived in the moment, enjoying the opportunity to play hero - however good he was at it, and however much pain he was willing to take in its name, it still, at its core, felt like a game, and like something that was entirely about him. It WAS his choice, every time, to involve himself. He knew Ladybug could manage without him, sometimes probably better, but he still jumped between her and danger, because that was what he wanted. For himself.

It was never like that to her, was it? She was - she was just so much better than him. He always knew it, but he never could quite understand the gulf. She didn't do this because she liked it, she never was given a choice - from the very moment they received their miraculouses, they were slotted into the roles of hero and sidekick. He enjoyed his. Did she enjoy hers? At least a little bit?

Adrien shook his head, coming back to reality as he was already sitting at his desk, Nino absentmindedly doodling in his notebook next to him. Apparently autopilot was good enough to take him through the basic motions of taking out his books and emulating a good student, because the lesson had already started.

He glanced back, at Marinette. For all that he was out this morning, he did notice that she was, too. To this girl (the coolest girl he's ever met, as his civilian identity anyway), he always paid enough attention to at least notice when she was acting differently around him.

Usually she... acted differently around him alright. She seemed awkward, and never knew where to put herself, and usually tried to end conversations as soon as possible. The few times they got stuck together, like with her Chinese uncle and the video game tournament, she did mostly unfreeze over time - but he did still feel the painful difference from how relaxed and confident she acted around everyone else.

Today, though, she looked too distracted by something to seemingly even really notice him... and in this state, she did remind him of someone else.

Ladybug was usually distracted from him alright; they only ever met when there was bigger fish to fry to begin with. He knew what she looked like when she needed to show she was gracing someone with her attention without actually doing it... this was painfully, somewhat terrifyingly similar.

If Marinette was Ladybug...

Well, this did make sense.

Literally the coolest girl he's ever met: check.  
Caring and kind and compassionate: check.  
Smart and strategic: check.  
Is annoyed by him: check.  
Dark pigtails making her look more childish then she could ever really be and deep blue eyes always busy with one thought or another (whenever he wasn't around anyway): check.

Yeah, Marinette was probably Ladybug.

Adrien hunched over. If she was, what was she thinking about him? He didn't really doubt it was about him - that conversation hit him hard, and he wasn't the one crying. He made her cry with his careless remarks, and he supposed it wasn't really his fault, he just accidentally poked at what was already a hornet's nest...

Accidentally.

Yeah.

He was probably better off concentrating on the lesson.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry I'm so cruel to the sweet oblivious dork child )=
> 
> This ends the obvious follow-up to that convo, I'll need to think of a new event hook to proceed, and I've kind of written myself into a necessity to proceed here. IF IT DOESN'T END UP HAPPENING, I'M SORRY


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This was always inevitable anyway

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> lalala editing is for chumps and so is structure~ take it before I again delete the whole thing because I hate it and it could be better. might be broken down into separate chapters later if i feel up to editing this at some point. im sorry writing is hard and posting is even harder ^^;

"Mari-NETTE!"

Two days later, Marinette was woken up from her nap on a desk by a mighty bellow from her best friend. She sleepily raised her face, "Huh?"

(The entire previous evening was spent chasing an annoying super-speedy akuma around the city, and half the night was spent catching up on schoolwork. Marinette knew napping at school wasn't the brightest idea, but her organism demanded some rest)

"Marinette, this needs to STOP!!!"

Alya loudly banged both her palms on the desk, which did not help Marinette's attempts to focus, and stared into her eyes.

"What exactly?..." managed Marinette, trying to remember through her sleepy haze what exactly was the last thing she did wrong.

There was, of course, the obvious target of "napping in the classroom". And then there was the other likely option...

"The thing! With you and Adrien! It needs to stop!" clarified Alya - or at least she thought this was clarifying.

"What thing, exactly?"

(Actually, she knew exactly what thing Alya was referring to)

"That thing!" Alya thrust her thumb to the side, and Marinette saw Adrien leaning against the wall and looking at her - but immediately after their eyes met, he quickly looked away.

Well, that was just dandy.

Marinette shifted her gaze back to Alya.

"He's been miserable for two days," Alya informed her. "He thinks you don't like him. In fact, he thinks you hate him. Because he's Chloe's friend, because he's not good enough, because you are too good for him - look, I got this info from Nino, and I'm not here to exposit at you about Adrien's self-loathing issues. But he thinks you hate him, and we. Are. Going. To. Fix. This."

"...we are?" Marinette echoed weakly. So far, all of Alya's plans on setting her up with Adrien had been disasters of various degrees of humiliation, but it was mostly her fault anyway, and she was in no state to resist.

"Tomorrow," Alya pointed her index finger at Marinette, underscoring her words, "Nino is having a party about the reveal of his new music. Composition. DJ something. Not the point. The point is that he invited Adrien and the two of us. Capiche?"

"Uhhhh," Marinette managed. She was definitely not awake enough for this, and she wasn't sure if this was the right way to treat Nino's... whatever... but clearly important to him party.

"So," Alya barreled on without so much as acknowledging Marinette's weak noises, "Nino and I are a couple, and right after he reveals his thing and we start celebrating - by the way, it will be a sleepover, tell your parents - right, so we'll split off together, and that leaves you and Adrien. Capiche?"

"Um," Marinette gathered her thoughts. This was definitely an exciting prospect - a whole evening with Adrien! And if he was so worried about her disliking him he told Nino and was apparently "miserable" because of it, this clearly helped her chances, right? She might actually be able to tell him how she feels!

...if she's able to spend an entire day at Nino's house, complete with a sleepover, without an akuma turning up again.

Fat chance.

...was she going to not even try to spend time with her friends because of the fucking Hawkmoth and his fucking evil plans?!

"Okay," Marinette finally was awake enough, and it was her turn to point her finger at Alya for emphasis. "I'll try do to this, but there's one condition."

Alya lifted her eyebrows.

"It's because of... things I can't tell you about, but I might need to leave. At any moment. Even in the middle of a conversation. And you will not try to stop me or make a fuss out of it, and you will tell Adrien it is not because of him, okay?" - Marinette bit her lip as she finished that last sentence. If Adrien really did get it into his head somehow that she didn't like him - actually not weird given how badly she reacted during every single interaction they had... this had potential to be very horrible.

"That's going to be a disaster if that happens," Alya echoed her thoughts. "I hope you understand that... Well, it's not certain that you'll have to leave, right?"

"Absolutely not certain," Marinette confirmed. Please, Hawkmoth, she pleaded internally, give me this one day! Just one day!

"Oh well," Alya concluded. "It's better to try and fail than to not try at all, right? It's not like it can get much worse!"

***

It could get so, so much worse, Marinette realized as she glanced over at the TV broadcasting news about a new akuma and a warning for people to stay off the streets - in the middle of Adrien monologuing about his interest in photography and love for Jagged Stone which somehow got to be one topic, and he was finally starting to relax - he was so tightly wound today that it actually somehow got Marinette herself to calm down and manage to react to him almost normally...

"I, uh," Marinette stammered as he finished another sentence and addressed her with a question she didn't even hear.

She should have probably pretended her phone was ringing, she thought as she was already jumping up, knowing it was too late to try and make it subtle.

"I'm sorry, I, uh, need to go right now immediately! I'm sorry, I just -" she backed out of the room awkwardly, accompanied by the loud snap of Alya's palm meeting her forehead, and ran to get her coat and boots. It was chilly, and she was NOT going to get stuck outside in her civilian identity freezing.

As she bent over to put the boots on, she caught a snippet of the conversation going on in the living room.

"It's okay," Adrien was saying quickly, "it's okay, I know where she's going, I just - in fact, I need to go too!"

She ran out of the door as the one from the living room started opening. She knew she had ruined the party, and probably confirmed what Adrien was thinking already, and the pouring rain outside helped her not notice her tears at first.

***

It took Chat several minutes to catch up with Marinette - upset ladybugs are very adept at finding hidey holes, apparently.

He knew exactly what went wrong, and he felt awful. Marinette was a good person, he knew, and he wasn't so oblivious as to not notice Alya and Nino conspiring to leave them together. Marinette did actually manage to get over herself enough to engage him in conversation and get him to talk about himself, and it was obvious that it was designed to make him feel better, and it worked! He did feel better, and Marinette, pure angel that she was, clearly felt better because of it as well -

and then, of course, Hawkmoth had to ruin it.

Maybe there really was something to this whole idea of "their lives will be better once they win and are done with this once and for all".

He found Ladybug curled up on herself in a nook on a rooftop, wiping tears off her face messily only for them to keep flowing.

"Milady?..." he called out carefully.

She looked up at him.

"Are you okay? What happened?" he asked somewhat uncertainly. He felt kind of uncomfortable... not telling her he'd figured out who she was seemed like the right thing to do at the time, but here and now it seemed to be backfiring badly... and did it count as intruding her privacy if she thought he was a stranger?...

"I," Marinette wiped off a tear, "I hate this job, okay? I wish I hadn't had to do this. I wish I had been less stupid. I just had to run out on someone, and he probably thinks I hate him now, and I LIKE him but he'll never believe it because I'm STUPID, and I'm so tired and I-"

"Shhh," - Chat reached out and pressed his finger to her lips.

This was... much bolder physical contact than she would normally tolerate from him. But he had to stop this. This was all wrong. He had no right to hear this, any of this, and he could file away this information for later, but he shouldn't have even gotten it in the first place, and - and they had an akuma to take care of now, anyway.

Marinette looked up at him mutely, too exhausted to even protest like she normally would. Oh, this mission was going to go SWIMMINGLY, he could already tell.

"Let's go beat up some bad guys," he offered, "and then - okay, actually I need to talk to you, but later, okay? We'll talk, promise?"

Marinette nodded and got up. They had some bad guys to beat up, and the rest of it could wait for now.

***

Actually, getting to outwit and capture a hapless akuma, save a citizen and the whole Paris ended up lifting Marinette's mood considerably. Standing on a rooftop (a different one this time) she was slightly swaying in the wind, but she was most definitely in good spirits.

"Milady, we need to talk," Chat's careful voice followed him gently touching her arm.

"Chat, our transformations are about to run out," Marinette pointed out tiredly. "Can't it wait? Until next time? Uh, whenever we can talk?..."

"No," - Chat's voice was quiet but firm. - "And it... doesn't really matter about the transformations, anyway. I- I know who you are. In civilian form I mean. Marinette."

She sharply turned, whipping her pigtails against her face and neck. Chat stepped back under her stare.

"I'm sorry," he said quietly, seeming to shrink on himself. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have - I should have told you immediately, but I thought... I didn't mean to make you- I'm sorry. I really did know where you were going. I never wanted to upset you-"

He kept going, but Marinette didn't hear it. She just heard it echoing in her head, in the same voice - how did she not catch this before?

I know where she's going. In fact, I need to go too...

"...Adrien?..."

He crumpled up in front of her, like his legs just gave out.

"I'm sorry," he whispered more to the roof than to her, "I should have told you, I shouldn't have asked, I never wanted to make you cry, I shouldn't have-"

It was Marinette's turn now to almost fall down to her knees, scramble up next to him, akwardly wrap her arms around his shoulders, press her forehead into his hair - blonde, floaty, thick hair that she should have recognized, it was almost the same, and the pieces of puzzle fit together like they were always meant to-

"It's okay," she whispered almost directly into his ear - the kitty ears were melting away on him, the transformation running out, and she'd never seen what it looked like from the side before, and she wasn't really seeing it now either, - "It's okay, you're okay, don't cry, I never meant to make you cry either, I swear, I promise - I like you, I love you, I never wanted to make you cry-"

Words that once stiffed in her throat before even quite managing to form now flowed freely, because where she felt awkward talking to a teen supermodel Adrien Agreste, heir of a brand and son of her idol, she knew exactly how to talk to her dumb cat, a lonely boy who didn't think he had friends and didn't realize how much he was loved - pieces of the puzzle fit together, they really did, and she was going to take care of him, and she really should have noticed earlier, oh so much earlier...

Her own transformation melted away too, sapping the rest of her strength, and the two of them sunk down together, a tangled mess of legs and arms, he was holding hers, and hair all matted together by rain that still hadn't let up. They were clutching each other like they were the only people left in the world, the only ones that mattered, the only ones for each other, and the rest of it could just wait.

Then, Adrien sneezed.

Marinette pulled back - he was reluctant to let go, clingy cat that he always was - and fumbled around for her bag. The sense of reality was slowly coming back to her, and they were both detransformed on top of a skyscraper with no means of getting down - unless the roof access door was unlocked, which she was pretty sure it wasn't, that's WHY she liked these rooftops, they were a private place...

"Adrien?" - her voice was raspy from crying she didn't even realize she'd been doing.

"Uh?" he looked up, and he was as stunningly handsome as always, but also lost and hopeful and- and there were more practical matters to attend to.

"I hope you have some food in your bag, because I ran out..."

Adrien started giggling. It might have been nerves, or it might have been the absurdity of the situation dawning on him - two superhero teens stranded above the city, with possibly no means of getting down short of calling the police with helicopters. Marinette found herself smiling as well, he always lifted her mood - that is, Chat did, she'd never heard a single joke from Adrien...

"I hope your kwami likes camembert," he fished some out of his bag and held it up in the air.

Marinette wrinkled her nose. So that's the smell she noticed from him sometimes, and there she thought it was perfume!

"No," Tikki chirped, flying out from her coat hood - oh that's where she was. "Leave stinky cheese to Plagg, and just get us down from here yourself!"

Marinette stared at her kwami, fascinated. Actually, this was the first time she'd ever seen Tikki talk to anyone who wasn't her - if it weren't for that incident with the wise old healer, Tikki would pretty much be like an imaginary friend. And now she was flapping her tiny wings nonchalantly, bossing around Adrien with her high-pitched voice as confidently as she had Marinette, and there was probably nothing new in the situation for her, was there?

"Actually, I've already helped myself to some," another kwami appeared on Adrien's shoulder, and Marinette was now staring at him. She was pretty sure it was a him, judging from the voice... she could not tell black cats apart by gender, and this kwami was pretty much a tiny, oddly-proportioned black cat. Made sense, given that her own was an oddly-proportioned ladybug, but she'd just never really thought of it.

"Oh, Plagg," Adrien sighed meanwhile, shoving the cheese back into the bag, "where would we all be without your appetite?"

"Nowhere, clearly," the kwami purred, and melted into the transformation as Adrien called out for it.

Watching it actually happen to someone else in front of her was fascinating, and somewhat surreal. She'd never thought she'd get to see it - no-one was ever supposed to see it, whether on her or on him, but what sense did it really make for the two of them not to trust each other?

"Your arm, Milady," - the mischievous cat in front of her was grinning, and Marinette flashed back to that time with Evillustrator when he appeared in front of her - and later Adrien was asking how well she liked Chat Noir - oh god. What a dork, and what an oblivious dork she was herself, not even giving it a second thought behind the stupefying wall of !!! ADRIEN !!!

They weren't far from the bakery, and soon they landed in Marinette's good old familiar spot, and then were in the room, and then were sprawled on the bed, Adrien detransformed again but still taking up as much space as Marinette thought a cat would, basically curling up all the way around her despite not actually being all that much taller.

She fished out her phone.

"Um, Alya?" she called out several seconds after clicking on the latest missed call notification.

"MARINETTE!!!"

Alya's voice could only be so loud over the speakers, but she sure did make the most out of their capability.

"Um," Marinette tried to interject, but her friend was not done yelling yet.

"MARINETTE ADRIEN LEFT IMMEDIATELY AFTER YOU DID WHAT DID YOU THINK WOULD HAPPEN WHAT THE HELL WAS SO IMPORTANT IT COULDN'T WAIT YOU JUST FUCKED UP BOTH HIM AND YOUR CHANCES-"

Marinette waited the stream of passion out, then spoke herself.

"Um, Alya. Actually, I'm with Adrien right now. Your plan kind of worked! We're okay now."

"..."

Marinette waited out a bit of shocked silence on the other end of the line, then continued.

"He, um, he kind of figured out where I was going? And it's okay? And I warned you it could happen that I'd need to leave, so..."

"So you have secrets with Adrien now?"

The primary emotion Marinette could identify in Alya's voice now was disbelief. Yeah, she wouldn't have believed this herself if it weren't already happening...

"I mean, seriously, girl! This super secret thing you couldn't tell me, and it turns out your secret crush of all people was already in on it? What haven't you been telling me?"

"Er," Marinette glanced at the blonde boy sprawled out over her bed covers - well, he must have seen the posters and photos still covering all the walls, and she'd confessed already anyway, but still... "Alya, he's right here, you know. Not yelling would be appreciated."

"Girl. Don't tell me. You still haven't actually confessed to him, have you?" - Alya was almost laughing now, and actually Marinette couldn't not sympathize.

"Actually, I kind of did." _I mean, he kind of broke down crying, what was I supposed to do?_ "It's the matter of principle though."

"Ah," Alya sounded very amused. "Where are the two of you right now?"

"Um. In my room," Marinette felt more and more stupid with every word she uttered, but still somehow utterly content with life and what it contained (a supermodel cat curled up on top of her legs and almost literally purring).

"Mm. Did you clean it up before inviting him in this time?"

Sometimes, Marinette could swear Alya was psychic.

"No, but you couldn't have known that!"

Alya snorted on the other end of the line.

"Fine, have fun. Oh, by the way, do your parents know you're in your room? Because they called a minute ago, and I told them you were in the lavatory. What are you DOING, girl?"

"Um."

"Um, we are going to leave and come back through the front door now. I'll, uh, I'll call you later," Marinette quickly cut off the call before she could say any more stuff. Man, it was a mess, and ahead of her lay the glorious task of convicing the Ladyblogger to not, in fact, release identities of Ladybug and Chat Noir to the public. She had a feeling it wouldn't take all that much convincing, though. For all her flaws, Alya WAS a good friend, and sometimes Marinette even suspected she already knew and kept mum about it.

"Adrien?" she called out, and ruffled his hair like she'd dreamt of doing so many times, only now it was as natural as breathing or teasing her long-time black cat of a partner, and she felt kind of high on everything that happened.

"Adrien, we are going to need to leave and come back via the front door now. Our plan had some flaws in it."

"Mm. As you wish, milady."

He stretched, still on her lap, ever so catlike in his movements, and Marinette knew everything was going to be fine now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AND THEN THEY KISSED. Like, later. But they totally did. And fought evil together happily ever after. MERRY WINTER HOLIDAYS EVERYONE (also its my birthday)


End file.
